Reply #6: Actually, its in the Popol Vu, the Mayan creation story

[Xipe Totec]

As well as the Olmec version:

The term "sudden death" could become more dangerously literal. The coach of the losing team, by the fate of the gods, is chosen to die; in the tradition carried from the Olmecs, the loser is decapitated in sacrifice. The Maya, Aztecs and the Huaxtecs (the latter producing this stela) all performed a ritual decapitation of losing coaches. (Other interpretations argue that the winners were in fact the ones worthy of this highly esteemed ritual death.) The streams of blood emerge from the severed neck as serpents. This is an interesting metaphor because the serpent has a profound association with its embrace with the life-giving earth, and here the serpent is also compared to the streams of life-blood that return from Man to the earth. NMAH



http://www.pacaritambo.com/culture.html

So if you want to mix sports and religion, go ahead (or, ah... headless as the case may be).


:evilgrin: